Red Sox no longer short on depth

Michael SilvermanSunday, April 07, 2013

Credit: Matt Stone

Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew.

The imminent return of Stephen Drew to the Red Sox means that shortstop Jose Iglesias will head back to the minor leagues, at Triple-A Pawtucket. It feels as though this the moment to point out that the Red Sox have not had such depth and quality of depth at the shortstop position for a long, long time.

Considering how hard it has been to fill the position since Nomar Garciaparra was traded in 2004, the fact that Iglesias is not even the organization’s best shortstop prospect anymore — that would be Xander Bogaerts by a mile — means they could be on the verge of something special at the premier position.

“They’re definitely among the stronger groups” in baseball at the shortstop position, said Jim Callis, executive editor of Baseball America. “Xander may (switch positions) when he’s ready for the big leagues, but the more I talk to people about him, people who used to point out that he’s athletic and big and may wind up having to move, now the more of those people you talk to, it’s, ‘You know what, this guy may be able to stay there.’ It’s pretty obvious after Stephen Drew’s time is done, if Iglesias hits, because he’s such a good defender, then Bogaerts would move to another position, but if Iglesias falters with the bat, I see Xander at shortstop for awhile.”

Behind Iglesias, the club has more depth. Last year its top pick was Deven Marrero, who impressed this spring, plus there’s Tzu-Wei Lin, Jose Vinicio and Cleuluis Rondon. “They’re all legitimate shortstops,” said Callis.

The Jackie Bradley Jr. Era has been a smashing success so far, and it points out that the Red Sox are top-heavy in positions besides shortstop, positions that can impact the big league club this year. There’s Bradley, pitchers Allen Webster and Rubby de la Rosa in Triple A, 2012 All-Star Futures Game pitcher Matt Barnes (the team’s top pick in 2011, the same year Bradley, catcher Blake Swihart and left-hander Henry Owens were drafted), and all appear very close to helping the big league club as soon as this year.

“It’s a very talented farm system and they have a bunch of guys who will be in the big leagues before long,” said Callis.

Cano’s switch lights fire

Robinson Cano’s agency switch last week certainly had an only-in-New-York type of feel to it. It’s bigger than that, of course. The ramifications are huge, since the long-term hopes of the Yankees rest on whether or not the ballclub will be able to retain its most prized young asset. The stakes are huge, not only for the Yankees but for all of baseball, especially in the heavyweight AL East division. And as with most things Yankees-related, one does not have to look too long or hard at it to discover what the Red Sox twists are. New agent Jay-Z and Cano provide those angles, proof that the overlap between sports and entertainment is becoming a more and more entangled web.

There’s plenty of background to plow through first. The man who made the Yankees cap more famous than the Yankees can, Jay-Z, was and is at the center of this story. Right now, among the many caps the rapper wears, a few are as a minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets, an entertainment icon, a titan in the music industry, plus he is of course Beyonce’s husband. He is a major Yankees fan and also has many, many friends in sports, including Cano and LeBron James. And Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake will perform a couple of concerts at Fenway in August — Yankees caps will be optional, no doubt.

Reminiscent of how Alex Rodriguez (another friend of Jay-Z) stole attention from the 2007 World Series between the Red Sox and Rockies in Denver when word leaked out that he was declining his Yankees option to become a free agent, Cano grabbed headlines on the off day after Opening Day last week when news broke that Cano was dropping Scott Boras for a new sports agency consortium led by Jay-Z. The timing was impeccable. The Red Sox were in town, the spotlight was on a Yankees team beleaguered by an old and beat-up roster and an albatross of a payroll, and here was a transaction that seemed to offer hope of a brighter future. The sports agency that Jay-Z absorbed, Creative Artists Agency, under the new name Roc Nation Sports, represents a number of other big names in baseball — including Buster Posey, Ryan Braun and Ryan Howard — who decided to forego free agency and instead opt to sign lucrative contract extensions. That’s not the usual Boras way, so conventional wisdom suggests that Cano will stay.

Whether or not conventional wisdom bears out is impossible to say, but it is worth noting the role that James is believed to have played in the Cano switch. When news broke, multiple media sources speculated that a mid-March get-together at a Miami Heat game between James and Cano was when the Jay-Z seed was planted and that the meet-up was no accident. Until the book gets written, that may be tough to prove definitively, but James has a friendship with Jay-Z, and both are Yankees fans. Reasonable minds could at least agree that the two have a mutual interest in having Cano stay on the Yankees.

Here is the Red Sox connection to James. Two years ago, Fenway Sports Management, a sports and marketing company, announced a business partnership with LRMR Marketing and Branding, the marketing arm for James’ brand, aimed to increase the NBA star’s global exposure to endorsement, marketing, business and philanthropic opportunities. FSM is one of the companies owned by the Fenway Sports Group, which also owns Roush Fenway Racing, Liverpool Football Club, NESN and the Red Sox. As part of the deal, James became a minority stake-holder in the Liverpool club.

The Red Sox took some hits when that deal was announced, since James is viewed as the enemy in Boston due mainly to frequent Cavaliers and Heat dust-ups with the Celtics. Now, even though James’ connection to the Cano-Jay-Z situation is informed speculation at this point, it is hardly a cheap shot to point out that James has a professional relationship with the ownership conglomerate that owns the Red Sox and that he has a personal relationship with Jay-Z. That’s really old news. So is the idea that high-powered mega-stars are attracted to others like themselves, and Cano, star-struck by both James and Jay-Z, is no different.

The Red Sox probably would rather not see James, no matter how indirectly, connected to the Yankees, but his soft spot for the Bronx Bombers was a matter of public record before FSM partnered with him.

Fenway Sports Group understandably bristled at the idea that if James advised Cano to sign with Jay-Z and thus increased the chance of signing with the Yankees, then that suggests that the Red Sox are somehow indirectly impacting a Yankees transaction.

“FSG has about as much influence in determining who a New York Yankee will sign with as the weatherman has in determining the temperature for tonight’s game in New York,” Sam Kennedy, president of Fenway Sports Management and executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Red Sox, said last week when the Red Sox were still playing in Jay-Z’s town.

Sports teams are continually on the hunt for increasing revenues, and Fenway Sports Group’s growth and success are prime examples of a formula that appears to be working. Occasionally, though, there is overlap: Worlds collide and there will be an appearance of if not a conflict of interest, at least an uncomfortable alliance. It happens, and it happens more and more frequently. Fenway will host Jay-Z and Timberlake for two nights in August. The host and entertainer each have a monetary interest in the event doing well. Fans will pay to hear the two, and the artists and the hosts will each make money.

And if Jay-Z is certified by then and promises not to wear his Yankees cap on stage, maybe he can squeeze in a lunch visit with somebody from the Red Sox front office to discuss a new deal for the only known Red Sox client, Junichi Tazawa.

So close to perfection

When Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish gave up a hit with one out to go in what could have been a perfect game, he became the 11th pitcher to come that close. The last one was Armando Galarraga, who lost his perfect game bid when umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base in June 2010.

Prior to that, the last such occurrence came on Sept. 22, 2001, at Fenway Park. That was the night Carl Everett broke up Mike Mussina’s perfecto with a sharp, clean single to center field.

Mussina could not help but smile right afterward. The game had been a terrific pitchers’ duel, with David Cone throwing a scoreless eight innings before giving up a run in the top of the ninth. The Yankees won the game, 1-0.

The wonderful game was completely overshadowed in the Red Sox clubhouse, which you’ll recall was poisonous in that 2001 season. The Red Sox, then managed by Joe Kerrigan and with Dan Duquette as general manager, decided to fire pitching coach John Cumberland after the game, prompting the usual mild-mannered Garciaparra to blurt out in front of reporters, “That’s why no one wants to (expletive) play here.”

Special night.

Raymond gets stung

Raymond, the Tampa Bay Rays mascot, had a very bad week. Asked by a fan to pose for a picture holding up a sign, Raymond neglected to read what it said. “Rays To Do List, 1. Steve Irwin (with a photo of the animal expert who was killed by a stingray), 2. World Series.”

Raymond had to apologize. Since Raymond does not speak, and probably can’t read, either, the Rays released a statement: “Rays mascot Raymond was handed an inappropriate sign brought to the game by a fan. Fans are welcome to bring signs into Tropicana Field provided they are not offensive. The Tampa Bay Rays regret that this particular sign was displayed in the ballpark, and we apologize for the lapse in judgment.”